Home to history: Wilson House, family big part of Yuma lore

Although the Wilson House, once located at 155 N. Gila Street, no longer remains, many of the descendants of the family who lived there still reside in Yuma.

The brick home, erected in the latter half of the 1800s, stood directly beneath the Interstate 8 bridge where the entrance to Gateway Park is today.

“Imagine for a moment, living in a neighborhood surrounded on the east by the Yuma Territorial Prison, on the north (by) the mighty Colorado River... and living a few blocks from the swing span railroad bridge that brought Southern Pacific Engine 4-4-0 No. 31, the 1st locomotive to Arizona in 1877,” said Wilson family descendant Bob Shook.

The historic Wilson House, built by Mercedes Mendoza Wilson, and her first husband, Capt. John Wilson, was established as a health care facility primarily to service the prisoners at the Yuma Territorial Prison. Years later, it was expanded in size to accommodate travelers passing through Yuma by rail on their way to search for gold or other pioneering efforts.

According to Shook, in the early and mid-1800s, many families living in Mexico were moving northward toward what would become the Arizona Territory in search of gold fields, and dreaming perhaps of the haciendas and cattle empires that hopefully would be theirs.

“About the time of the Gadsden Purchase (1853), Mercedes Mendoza was born in Caborca, Sonora, most likely descendents of the Yaqui and Maya Indians,” Shook said.

“When she was a young girl of about 10 years (1863), accompanied by her mother, Rosa Gastello de Sylas, and other family members, she left her native Caborca... and traveled the 250 miles to Yuma, through El Camino del Diablo to find work at Fort Yuma.” At 16 years of age, Mercedes married John Wilson, who was stationed at Fort Yuma. When he was transferred to the Presidio in San Francisco, Calif., soon thereafter, Mercedes went with him.

While in California, Mercedes would “make daily walks from the Presidio to Mission Dolores, and pray that some day she could return to her home in Yuma,” Shook said. “Her prayers were finally answered when she was able to arrange a trip back to Yuma with her husband and children.”

Once back in Yuma, “this silver-haired enterprising woman saw that many changes had occurred in Yuma, and much was needed to be done,” Shook added.

“The silver and gold mines had attracted many miners to the area. A rooming house was needed, and also a hospital to take care of the sick and injured miners. The Territorial Prison had brought doctors, but there was no one to assist them in their operations, so she did.”

According to the Shook family, Mercedes on occasion performed operations herself, and in an era with no refrigeration, she developed a method of preparing and preserving the dead for burial.

“She placed flat irons beneath the shroud to hold down the swelling,” Shook explained. “When the Southern Pacific railroad main line had to be changed, the original territorial cemetery was in the right-of-way, and the bodies had to be removed. Officials of the railroad were amazed at the number of flat irons in the graves, and were informed that Mercedes was responsible.”

Mercedes also performed duties as a midwife, and helped deliver many babies, Shook said.

A religious woman, when two of her sons were burned in a department store fire, Mercedes declared it was “God's will” and carried on, Shook said. Later in life, two other sons died, but she never lost her faith, he said.

Mercedes also opened up the Wilson House to area orphans during her lifetime.

After the death of her husband, she married Thomas Downey. Their son, George Downey, was born in 1883 at the Wilson House. He was educated in Yuma schools, and upon graduation was apprenticed to the Yuma Water and Light Company.

In 1905, Downey married Eloise Romo formerly of Ontario, California. Their four daughters were also born at the Wilson House. Those daughters, listed here with the names they took in marriage, included Victoria Hodges, Gertrude Needham, Eleanor Shook, and Gloria Levy-Hodges-Grebe.

Downey's political career began in 1910, when he was elected to the Yuma City Council. He went on to become a Yuma County Supervisor, and mayor of Yuma, all at the same time. That distinction landed his name in an edition of Ripley's “Believe it or Not.”

“George Downey, molded by the example and character of his mother, played a vital and important role in shaping Yuma history,” Shook said. “His rise in the political world ran concurrently with the growth of the city and county. He sponsored and assisted in securing most of the improvements carried out in Yuma.”

Those improvements included the highway system, the airport, the Colorado River bridge, and the paved streets of the city, Shook said. George died in 1932 at the young age of 49 in the same house where he was born.

Mercedes died in the 1920s and is buried in the old Yuma Cemetery with the rest of her family.

“In her later years she was a familiar figure sitting on the front porch of the Wilson House, always doing something constructive since her hands were never idle,” Shook said.

“Not only will her legacy and accomplishments forever be part of early Yuma history, they will also live through the continued generations of the Downey family.”

The Wilson House was demolished in 1964 to make way for the new I-8 bridge that now spans the Colorado River.

The site of the Wilson House continues to be a popular location for the Wilson descendants to unite for family reunions. The family is currently working to have the street to Gateway Park renamed George Downey Drive.

Chris McDaniel can be reached at cmcdaniel@yumasun.com or 539-6849.